To ease the hesitancy of the people, Rotaract Club of San Juan Del Monte Premier held Project Panatag, a town hall-format discussion on vaccination last August 15 via Zoom. Members of various communities around San Juan City such as citizens and officials of Brgy. Onse, students and faculty of the Dominican College – San Juan, and Kadang Dominiko participated in the discussion with the invited medical expert, Nikko Aldrich Castillo, MD, RN, OHP, SHC-I. Also in the forum were Rotarians: LCP Valerie Siy, ARPIC Josh Santos, the Rotaract Club Adviser IPP Jill Javiniar of the Rotary Club of San Juan Del Monte, and Rotarians of the club and other neighboring Rotaract clubs.
In the preliminaries of the program, it was recognized that the participants in attendance did not have much hesitation about getting vaccinated. However, there are still people around them that do. VP Adonis Basa, asked the participants to not settle with getting vaccinated, but rather, to encourage others to get vaccinated by sharing what the participants will learn from the discussion. IPP Jill Javiniar echoed this call by saying, “Eradicating the virus may be a dream, but learning how to live with the virus is also the key to reviving the economy, going back to normalcy, and ensuring the people do not die from hunger”. Dr. Castillo responded to the multiple apprehensions and concerns of the participants with current scientific data and his medical knowledge. Towards the end, he said that getting vaccinated is about protecting ourselves, our families, and other people. He added that as soon as more people get vaccinated, the sooner we will be back to our new or better normal.
The discussion was succulent, questions were answered, myths were debunked, and the participants were more equipped to encourage others. In the end, RAC SJDM Premiere left everyone with just one message: ang pamilyang Pilipinong bakunado, ay nagmamahalan ng todo todo!
A recording of the session is uploaded in the facebook page of the Rotaract Club of San Juan Del Monte Premier.
